Spinal stenosis affects a significant portion of the population. Current surgical spinal fusion uses intervertebral pedicle screws and spinal cages, designed to be connected to two or more vertebrae.
However, the use of standard cages and pedicle screws system is quite invasive, which has known negative impacts. It would be advantageous to have a system that can obtain similar pain relief and clinical outcomes in a significantly less invasive manner.
Another problem is the significant variability of the geometry of the facet joints between different patients and different spinal levels of the same patient. It is difficult to adapt the spinal implant to the varying geometry.
PCT Patent Application WO 2017/046667 describes a facet distraction prosthesis that includes an array of facet distraction base elements connected to each other by one or more connector elements. Diagonally adjacent base elements are connected to each other by a set of connector elements which intersects with another set of connector elements that connects another pair of diagonally adjacent base elements. The connector elements are flexible so that the base elements can flex with respect to each other and adapt to geometry of a facet joint.